Face to Face
by pineapples are magic
Summary: Luna notices things, and she's noticed a boy who keeps everything bottled up. She's offered him a chance to open up and now Draco has finally agreed. (one shot)


Hi, all! This is a cutesy, kinda fluffy one that I just love. Hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling

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Draco Malfoy was as nervous as ever tonight. The Lovegood girl had offered (over a million times) to talk to him, and he only agreed to have her stop asking. But now, sitting face to face, he found it hard to say anything, because there was so much to say and nowhere to begin. So he just sat there, in the midst of the Forbidden Forest, heart racing a marathon, staring at perky little Lovegood, who was simply staring back at him.

"Don't hold back," she said. "You can yell at me if you'd like. I find that it's better to scream out your problems than keep them bottled up, don't you?"

"Sure, Loony," he said. Now that she told him not to hold back, he definitely wasn't going to, about anything. He wasn't afraid of her; a small thing like her? He could fit her in the palm of his hand.

"Go ahead," she said, crossing her legs, ready for the worst.

Draco rolled his eyes and he felt his heartbeat slow down. Maybe this won't be so hard after all. But, of course, it's not like he could just tell her about the Dark Lord's plans for him. That was confidential information, and if the Dark Lord knew that he told her, he'd kill them both.

"I've got nothing to say," he said.

"Sure you do," said Loony, "you just don't know how to say it, do you?"

How did she know that?

"Um," said Draco, "no, I don't."

"I'll help you. Start it like this: Well, Luna, I've been having these problems lately and they've clearly been bothering me quite a lot, so I'd much like to share them with you," she said in a bad imitation of Draco's voice. Still, Draco couldn't help but chuckle. Then he realized, he hadn't laughed in months, not even cracked a smile, and here Loony was, making him giggle like a schoolgirl. He shook the thought and said, "I'm not saying that."

Lovegood's face slightly fell, but brightened up again almost as immediately. She stood up and began to scream at the top of her lungs. Draco jumped at the sudden disturbance of the quiet and covered his ears.

"ARE YOU MAD?" he shouted over her screams.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO IT WITH ME!" she yelled back.

"I'M NOT GOING TO BLOW ALL THE AIR OUT OF MY LUNGS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

"BUT YOU ALREADY ARE!"

"NO I'M NOT; I'M TRYING TO SHUT YOU UP!"

Lovegood smiled. "Didn't that make you feel better, Draco?"

Draco calmed down and felt… _lighter_ somehow. Like he could breathe better.

"Yea, actually, it did," he said, grinning.

Laughing? Smiling? Next thing he knows, she'll have him running around in circles singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

"Brilliant!" she said, sitting back down. "Now we can talk."

Draco sat too, face to face with her again. "I guess so," he said.

Lovegood sat patiently, waiting for him to start.

"Well, Loony," he said, and she immediately smiled wider. "I've been having these problems lately and they've clearly been bothering me quite a lot, so I'd much like to share them with you."

"Go ahead, Draco," she said. "Take your time."

He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and let it out slowly.

And he began to talk. And talk. And talk.

He told her everything: he said how much he felt pressured to do something that he really didn't want to do, and even if he did, he wouldn't have had the guts to (he steered clear of mentioning You-Know-Who), and he went on about his mother, whom he loved dearly, and his father, whom he hated wretchedly, because Lucius was the one who got them involved with bad things in the first place, which completely tore their family apart. He could've gone on all night, talking like he was. It was mostly because Lovegood didn't say a word throughout; she simply nodded understandingly when he looked up from the ground at her, and it didn't feel like she was just giving some sort of response to indicate that she was listening when she really wasn't (like everyone else) but Draco felt that she _was _listening, and quite intensely at that.

When Draco finally stopped talking, he could see faint sunlight coming from between the trees. It must have been hours. Still, Draco felt loads better than he had that time the day before.

"Hmm," said Luna.

"What?" asked Draco.

"Nothing," she said. "We'd better get back to the castle, yes?"

"Yea."

They both stood up and stared at each other for a few more moments.

Then Luna did something Draco would've never expected from anyone: she jumped up (as he was quite taller than her) and embraced him tightly. His heart sped up again and he closed his eyes automatically, feeling her arms around him.

"We can talk again tonight if you'd like," she whispered in his ear.

"Sure," he whispered back, opening his eyelids and looking at his surroundings. "I'd like that."

"Me too."

She pulled back after a few more seconds, smiled at him, and skipped past him towards Hogwarts. "I'll see you tonight, then!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"See you!" he called back. And then, quiet enough that she wouldn't hear, he said, "Thanks, Luna."


End file.
